Just compensation

A sincere thank-you is due to the people of New Jersey for voting "yes" on Question 3, funding Green Acres.
It is important to put Question 3 in perspective. It authorized $90 million to preserve farmland in the entire state while the just compensation due to Highlands farmers for the Highlands Act taking is estimated at $6 billion and some say closer to $12 billion.
The "yes" vote on Question 3 was largely a symbolic vote sending a clear message to legislators that, yes, the people of New Jersey care about preserving the environment, but also, yes, the people of New Jersey want to see the farmer landowners compensated for their life work of caring for and protecting those lands that are still "open space."
The people do not want farmers harshly punished, as the Highlands Act has harshly punished Highlands farmers, for the good deed of not having sold their bucolic green fields to developers.
I am confident that the people would also vote "yes" to a question that asked: If the Highlands Act cannot be justly funded, should it be repealed?